


Bruises

by fantaxys



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec Lightwood Deserves Nice Things, Blood and Injury, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, How Do I Tag, Hurt Alec Lightwood, Hurt/Comfort, Injured Alec Lightwood, M/M, Protective Isabelle Lightwood, Protective Magnus Bane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:14:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29919495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fantaxys/pseuds/fantaxys
Summary: Family comes first. And if Alec needs to break someone's nose to make sure of it, so be it.
Relationships: Alec Lightwood & Isabelle Lightwood, Magnus Bane & Alec Lightwood, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 1
Kudos: 52





	Bruises

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a sucker for angst with happy endings, so here's another one. There will be blood mentioned. Only read if you're comfortable with it. Enjoy reading!

Friday nights were normally Alec's favorites. Not just because it was the only night where he could forget about 'clave business' for a moment, but he could actually have some fun. 

Most Friday nights, that meant lying on the couch with Magnus, watching movies, cuddling, long kisses, and the sometimes more heated ones that ended up in the bedroom. But alas, his lover had his own business to take care of on this particular night and thus Alec was dragged to Hunter's Moon with his siblings and Clary.

Alec did love spending time with them, he truly did. Yet he still missed his boyfriend's warm embrace, soft touches and lazy kisses. Especially after seeing his Parabatai almost drooling over his girlfriend.

"Hey, Clary and I are going home. It's getting late and-" It was very, very obvious that Jace and Clary had other plans for tonight, judging by the way they'd been practically sucking off eachother's face the second they entered the bar.

"Have fun!" Isabelle interrupted with a way too cheery voice, having the exact same thoughts Alec had.

They waved the Lightwood siblings goodbye and made their way out of the crowd. Unfortunately, Alec saw Jace squeezing Clary's ass as they walked out the door of the bar. He should've looked the other way.

Trying to erase the memory, Alec walked towards the bar and ordered himself a martini, hoping it would ease things up a bit. Although he knew it wouldn't be as good as Magnus's famous martinis, he drank it anyways. 

After some time talking to Maia, who was working, Alec turned around to check up on his sister. He found her accompanied by a random guy he'd never seen before, and guessed it was one of Isabelle's many exes. 

It was quiet impressive how his little sister's love life had gone so far. He never judged her though. Alec knew how strong and independent Izzy was, and he also knew she could make her own decisions. That didn't mean he never stopped praying for the day she would found the love of her life. He was 100 percent sure it would happen, because how could it not? His sister was beautiful, both on the in- and outside.

When Alec focused on the two for a little while, he noticed Izzy chancing her posture. The really gigantic guy, even taller than Alec maybe, had started to caress Isabelle's legs, his hands making their way up slowly, inch by inch.

Izzy's face turned slightly annoyed, angry even. Alec could hear the quiet 'Stop it,' coming from her lips. But the guy did not stop. He took her hand and pulled her on her feet. His hands now made their way to her back, and lower.

"Cress, stop!" Izzy tried to push him away, but failed. The guy, Cress apparently, whispered something in her ear that Alec could not hear. Izzy stopped her movements, face blank.

Without even thinking twice, Alec jumped up from his stool, and made his way through the bar. We break noses, and accept the consequences, right?

Paying no attention to the glances of the crowd's stares now glued on him, he clenched his fist and smacked it in Cress's face. 

"Nobody touches my sister," Alec whispered, more to himself than to the guy in front of him. A trail of blood came from Cress's nose as he quickly wiped it away.

Alec wanted to get out of there with his sister, but as he turned around, a large hand grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back. The next thing he knew was feeling another hand, punching him right in the eye. 

Alec yelped in pain as he stumbled to the ground. He felt disoriented when he saw a figure hanging above him, the world spinning around it.

"Alec!" Isabelle tried to pull him up before Cress neared the two of them.

"Iz, go home, I'll take care of this." 

"But-"

"Now, Isabelle." Izzy gave him a questioning look, but nodded and ran out of the front door. He hated to let his sister go out alone at this time, but it was better for her than to stay here.

Alec reached for his Stele and tried to find his Iratze Rune. His sight was still blurry, and there it was again, the intense sting in his eye. And another one, and another one. Cress was now straddling Alec's lap, his legs on both sides of him.

The bar had turned into a cheering crowd, everyone excited for the fight, even though no one knew what it was about.

He must've dropped his Stele, because the breaking sound he heard was too familiar. That thing had broke so many times, but never when he actually needed it.

"Cress, that's enough." Alec heard the faint voice coming from the circle of people around him. He didn't know who it belonged to, but he took this opportunity to get the hell away from the place.

Alec prayed he was aiming for the right direction, and swung his fist right into his cheek.

Thank the Angel, he hit the guy perfectly. Everyone knew Alec was better with his bow and quiver. He never was as good in hand-to-hand combat, not like Jace. 

But now was not the time to ponder about his fighting skills, so he jumped up, and ran straight through the door.

The throbbing feeling in his right eye irritated him, but for now he had to ignore it. A trail of blood came from his nose as he ran on the concrete floor, on his way to the first place that popped in mind.

\---

Magnus often dealt with difficult, stubborn clients, but this one was next level annoying. The woman had asked him for some potion that required a lot of energy to make. When he finally finished it after almost 7 hours of work, the woman wasn't satisfied with the results so he spent all night listening to her yells and insults. Thankfully, he ended up winning the conversation and eventually made a lot of money, not that it mattered.

The night had settled in, currently 3am, and Magnus wondered what was Alec taking so long to get home. He usually got home around 11, but maybe he was just really enjoying his night out. So Magnus tried to decide whether to wait for his boyfriend to come home, or go to bed instead. It was getting really late after all. 

He went with option two and walked to the bathroom for a shower, trying to get rid of the tension his shoulders were still carrying. 

Alec, however, had reached the end of his way back home. His eye had started to swell, but the nosebleed stopped before he got to the loft.

He knew he must've looked awful, but appearances could be deceiving. Yes, it wasn't comfortable having a bruised eye but it could've been worse, right?

Without knocking on the door, he barged in, a little dizzy from running all the blocks. He didn't expect Magnus to still be awake by now, so he crashed on the couch. When he brought his hand to his face, he felt the dried blood underneath his nose. A shower wouldn't be such a bad idea right now.

Just when he wanted to get up, he heard the faint sound of running water - he hadn't even noticed he heard it - stop; Magnus was still awake. Alec knew he would freak out if he saw him like this. Black eye that's swollen, dried blood on his face and even though Alec hadn't seen his own cheek, there was a small cut on the side of it. 

Not just Alec had been suprised by his lover, but Magnus too had felt someone entering his wards. In just his robe, Magnus walked in the living room to find Alec sitting on the couch, his back facing him.

"Hey there," 

"Hey, sorry I'm late. I hope I didn't wake you." 

Magnus walked towards the couch, but he still didn't get Alec to turn around. He sat doen next to Alec, who turned his head to look the other way.

"No you di- Alec? Everything alright?" Laying his hand on Alec's shoulder, he could feel him flinching under his touch. 

What was he doing? Magnus thought to himself. Had he done something wrong?

"Hey," He moved his hand up to Alec's chin, and made him turn around. But what was in front of him was something he hadn't expect to see; His boyfriend's face all bruised and bloody. Magnus felt something between confusion, pure terror and anger.

"My God- Alec, what happened?"

Alec still avoided Magnus's eyes and could only look down to where his other hand was resting on his lap. 

Magnus had seen Alec with bruises before, but this looked completely different. Shadowhunters came home injured all the time, sometimes because of training, sometimes because of attacks. But Magnus had a feeling this hadn't been a demon attack, but a fight. A man-to-man fight.

Without even thinking about it, Magnus swirled his hands and healing magic flew around Alec's face. But Alec grabbed the hands and put them down, stopping his movements.

With his right eye half-shut from the swelling, Alec lifted his head to lock his gaze with Magnus's. 

"I'm okay, it's not that bad."

"Jesus Alec, look at yourself! Tell me, what the hell happened to you?" Alec heard the slight undertone of sadness in his voice, his tone faltering.

"It was nothing. Just this jerk who was bothering Isabelle and well, let's say I uh made sure it'll never happen again. Oh and he broke my Stele during the fight." 

"Fight?"

Alec had been in a fight? He never fights with anyone unless he has to, for work. Magnus knew Alec isn't a violent person, but when it comes to family, he would never ever let anyone hurt them. That was one of the many, many things that made Magnus fall in love with him. His determination, strong will, and power Alec sometimes didn't know himself he had. 

Alec released his firm grip on Magnus's hands and looked back down. He made it sound like nothing happened, but Magnus could see a hidden expression on his pale face. Once again, Magnus lifted his hand, now bringing it up to Alec's eye. When he softly touched the now purple bruise, Alec flinched in pain a little, but rebuked himself right after.

"Sorry,"

"It doesn't even hurt."

"So stubborn..." Magnus sighed, starting on his healing magic again. Except this time Alec allowed it, since it actually felt a lot better. 

"Told you, it could've been worse."

"That's not the problem here. What is, is that my boyfriend shows up at 3 in the morning after a fight, with a bruised eye, blood running down all over his face and refusing to say it hurts."

Again, Alec looked into Magnus's eyes, and Magnus saw the shame in his boyfriend's. He couldn't blame him though. Nobody should treat a woman, or anyone for that matter, that way. But Magnus felt pretty devastated about the situation.

"I know, Magnus I'm so sorry. It won't happen again. I- I couldn't just stand there, not doing anything," 

The cuts on his face were getting smaller, the swollen bruise on his eye started to fade, when Magnus's phone went off.

"Must be Izzy," Magnus handed his phone over to Alec and continued on his face, while Alec picked up.

"Magnus please, please is Alec with you? I- We were, I was-"

"Iz, slow down. I'm okay." Alec wondered why his sister hadn't just called him instead, but he then noticed his phone was nowhere to be found. He must've dropped that too, or maybe it was still laying in the bar.

"Alec, thank the Angel- I was so scared. When I got home- I shouldn't have let you go in the first place. It's all my fault, I'm so-"

"Hey, hey it's okay. Everything is okay. I'm safe here, with Magnus. Please get some sleep. I love you."

It was getting too late for long, serious conversations, so Alec decided not to mention the punches he got, nor the way he looked at the moment; defeated. He knew Isabelle would only blame herself even more, and be even more upset than she already was.

"Okay, I love you too Alec. Thank you," 

They ended their call and Alec gave the phone back to Magnus, who was almost done with healing all the scratches and bruises on Alec's face.

Without saying anything, Alec focused his gaze on the floor before him. He was tired. Not just physically, but mentally too. It had been a long night, and his body wanted- needed to rest. Alec noticed his eyelids getting heavier, and so did Magnus.

"All done darling," He brought his hand up to Alec's cheek and caressed it softly with his thumb. "Why don't we hop into bed?"

Alec let out a big yawn and leaned into Magnus's touch. As long as he was with him, it didn't matter where he would be.

"Yeah that's probably a good idea," 

Not caring for a shower at this time, Alec laid down next to Magnus, who put his head to rest on Alec's chest, his hand above the heart. Alec wrapped his arms around Magnus, holding him as close as he could.

Family had always been Alec's number one priority. He would literally die for them, if it was the last thing he'd do. And after all these years of keeping secrets, Alec never thought this would happen. Getting to hold a man, Magnus, in his arms. 

But Magnus was his chosen family, nothing in the world could change that. If he had to choose between life and Magnus, he'd say he can't. Because for Alexander, they're the same thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Criticism always welcome.


End file.
